Continuing the Journey

We Gotcha Yesterday…

…and today we made it official! Yes, folks, Molly Jayne is officially, undeniably, and legally our daughter!! Guess I should start at the beginning of our day to stay organized.

Due to the trauma Molly experienced yesterday morning at Gotcha, we decided against trying to bathe her last night. Just wasn’t worth the potential distress it might have caused her and we really wanted her to go to bed calm so she would sleep. And sleep she did! She went down (easily and without a fuss) at 7:30 last night and slept straight through until 7:30 this morning! Yessssssss!!

We worried for nothing about bath time being distressing. This morning, I filled the tub with water and led her to the bathroom. She didn’t seem thrilled but reluctantly let me take off her nightgown and help her step into the tub. She wanted to stay standing, but Mama won that battle and she finally sat down in the water. I tossed in her mermaid doll and a water bottle and she was hooked! I let her soak for a bit since her ankles and feet were pretty dirty and I figured a good soak would make that battle easier for me to win.
It’s amazing – in the absence of real toys – how much fun a smart four-year-old can have in the tub with a water bottle! Eventually, the actual bath had to happen. She did great…

…and we got the traditional (for our crazy family, anyway) soapy-hair-in-the-tub picture. This will join the pics of Meggie (when she was a baby) and Carson (on his Gotcha Day) that are framed in the kids’ bathroom at home. Ahhh, tradition…

Molly doesn’t enjoy being exposed – except when she’s urinating on a sidewalk, of course – and was VERY pleased to see the towel when bathtime was over…

…the little snuggle-bug! Since today was a special day, Miss Molly got all dressed up for the occasion…

…and we just thought she was a vision of loveliness in her polka-dot dress! (Good call, Megster – she got complimented all day on that cute dress!) I tried to brush her teeth…she wasn’t having it. No, she doesn’t have issues with brushing, she just wanted to do it herself…

…and did a great job! (Did you notice she has her pinky finger extended on her left hand in that second picture? What a proper little lady!) It’s so funny how little she will let us do for her. Carson let us dress him, brush his teeth, and spoon feed him. That is, until he went to occupational therapy and we figured out he knew how to do all of those things…he just wanted us to do them for him! Shows you the difference in how girls and boys are raised in the orphanages, I guess.

We got on the bus and, boy, things changed overnight for my Pretty Princess…

…since she chose to sit with Mama this time! Yesterday she wouldn’t look at me, today she won’t let me out of her sight. Kevin thinks it means she’s warming to me. I think it just means she’s keeping her eye on me – you know the saying, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” Whatever the reason, I’m enjoying getting to spend time with her without stressing her out!

When we pulled up to the Registration Office for the adoption finalization…

…I was so worried that Molly wasn’t going to do well. After all, we were heading back to the exact same room where we had Gotcha yesterday. (Isn’t that brilliant?! Don’t they THINK about the trauma to these kids when they plan these things?!)

We sat in the room while the paperwork got processed. There was a small play area and most of the kids did fine and just hung out and played. Molly never cried, but she did not enjoy the experience…

…choosing instead to sit quietly and watch. Daddy finally decided to take her outside to look at the fish in the pond since we definitely sensed her discomfort being in that room. After the paperwork was finished, we had a small ceremony, received our official documents, and then took turns having our picture taken with the Registration Officer…

…who was the woman on the right of that picture. I don’t know who the woman on the left was, but she was there for Gotcha and seemed to know Molly. (And she had the same outfit on yesterday, but I’m not judging…) Yesterday, Molly saw that woman as a source of support. Today, Molly wouldn’t look at or talk to her at all. It was so good for me to see that Molly already – in a short 24 hours – felt secure enough with us that she wasn’t interested in the support of this woman anymore. Guess we’re heading in the right direction! We headed to the bus and Molly’s mood instantly changed. She was skipping and chattering and happily turned around to wave “Bye-Bye” to the people still in the room. Oh, baby girl, you are so strong and resilient!!

Next we headed to the Notary’s office…

…which was next door to the photo shop we visited yesterday (where the Princess relieved herself on the sidewalk). Unfortunately for all of us, the Notary’s office was on the sixth floor of a non-air-conditioned building that did not have an elevator. Yep, we had to schlep our babies up six flights of stairs in 95 degree heat with probably 80 percent humidity. Oh, goodie!!

We again sat and waited while paperwork got processed, then we had our pictures taken with the Notary Officer…

…who, judging from that picture, was cleared hired for her friendly people skills. NOT!! Isn’t the look on her face hysterical?! Once that appointment was handled, we only had one more thing to accomplish today…

…we went SHOPPING! We brought her a few toys from home, but clearly not enough. She’s very good at keeping herself quietly occupied but was getting bored with the few toys we brought. When we showed her the things we were buying for her…

…she was SO excited with each thing and clapped her hands happily. We kept saying we wished we could read her mind to see just what she was thinking as we filled the cart with toys. A couple of the kids were quite traumatized by the 90 minutes we spent in the store, but Molly was NOT one of them. Yes, Megster, you have a shopping buddy! (Don’t tell Carson, but a couple of Ultraman toys are in that cart. Molly didn’t want them…she kept pushing them away. When I told her they were for Ge Ge, she was very excited.)

Adoptive parents often fret about all the “firsts” they missed with their child. You know – first smile, first tooth, first steps. We have to embrace the “firsts” we DO get to see, and we had two at the shopping center today…shopping and…

…her first ice cream cone with us! As she finished off her cone, I took a picture especially for my cyber-friend, Emily…

…since Tasha had rolled Aaron right up next to Molly! (She told me you wanted more pics of Aaron…so here you go. He’s an absolute doll baby and lights up the room with his smiles.)

Don’t know if you had noticed, but Molly came to us wearing boys’ sandals. She will NOT go barefoot and really does not like to relinquish her shoes, but she was quite happy to relinquish those blue shoes when she saw these…

…adorable pink ones we bought her! Given the choice between blue and pink at the store, she picked pink for everything. Aren’t those shoes super cute?! She was so proud to show them off!
After shopping, we headed to our room to get ready for dinner and, while we were waiting for Tasha and her family to call us, Molly and Daddy had some fun…

…which I was able to get on video and will post when we’re home. (Not sure they’ll go through on e-mail for Meggie to post.) I will tell you that she has the BEST and most infectious laugh…it’s deep and throaty, like a three-pack-a-day smoker. Coming from her tiny little body, it is just too cute! Her biggest joy is to play with her baby dolls’ hair. As she was styling the hair of one of the two Barbies we bought her today, I noticed something…

…that she had a rubber band on her wrist, just like Meggie always does! I’m telling ya, Meggie, you have a Chinese mini-me coming your way in 10 days!!

After dinner and bath time, I wanted to get rid of that awful blue sparkly nail polish she had on when we got her. I wondered if she would give me a fight when I painted her nails pink to match my nails and…well, everything she currently owns.

She was very willing to sit still and even knew the necessary parts of a manicure, namely...

…blowing ‘em dry…

…and showing ‘em off! Pink is DEFINITELY her color!

She struggled more to get to sleep tonight…not crying at all, but not willing to stop chattering and playing with her baby doll. Took about 30 minutes, but she’s out like a light now.

I will tell you that she holds our hands constantly now and is even giving us a few kisses. She seems a bit wigged out by kisses and by being touched…kinda winces when we kiss her or stroke her hair…so getting a kiss from this one is a very big deal!

I’m missing Carson and Meggie like crazy, and I know at least Meggie is missing me right back. I can’t get phone service here in Zhengzhou like I could in Beijing so I can’t even call to talk to them. If Meggie can get Skype set up at Grandma’s our travelmate, Ann, said we could use her computer to call them since she has Skype already set up. Hope it works soon. I would love for them to be able to see Miss Molly in action…and for her to get to talk to Jie Jie and Ge Ge. (She already recognizes them in pictures.)

Those who have been commenting on the blog and sending me e-mails, thank you! (My blog is set up to e-mail me comments, which is a good thing since I can’t access the blog from here at all.) The sweet and supportive messages you all are leaving me are such a blessing…I truly can’t thank you enough!

Since Molly is showing us her silly personality today, thought I’d end with some silly pics of all of our kids…

…and I’m off to bed. Meggie, thanks so much for blogging for me…and I loved the post you did about your sister, the Princess! You are becoming an excellent blogger yourself!

See you all tomorrow…it’s a free day and we’re gonna explore the city a bit. Good night from Zhengzhou!